Onalaska tables discussion on ending fluoridation

In addition to council prayer, [council member] Pogreba has been floating the idea of getting fluoride out of the city’s water. Pogreba first brought up the idea of discontinuing fluoridation at the November council meeting.

Fluoride is added to most U.S. municipal water supplies to help prevent tooth decay, and fluoridation has been hailed as one of the 20th century’s top achievements in disease prevention.

But fluoridation has many critics, who view it as mass medication with a substance that has potential side effects from discolored teeth and brittle bones to cancer. Pogreba noted Tuesday that more than 90 percent of the fluoride added to the public water system goes down the drain without ever touching anybody’s teeth.

Pogreba asked fellow council members to have discussions on discontiuing fluoridation, but Ferries was the only one to back that idea. The other four council members all voted to indefinitely table the matter.